My Koolance Exos-AL Experience

[Biggie]

well i installed mine and have been playing around with it to see what i can get.

Background:
barton 2500 @ 1.725 V @ 2.205 ghz

Before i had my EXOS -AL i had the aerocool dp102 with two thermaltake smartfans on it. It was loud as heck (48 db per smartfan) but it kept it much cool at 33 idle and 39 load with Prime95.

Now, with my exos it is dead silent but does 36 idle and loads at 48!!!!!!I suppose its infinetely quieter then my old cooling but my temps have gone up. I mean, i can hear the heads of my hardrives over this puppie.

The good thing is. It shoots back down to 36 within a minute or so of turning off prime.

Whats everyone else getting for their exos.

 

[oqvist]

Originally posted by Biggie
well i installed mine and have been playing around with it to see what i can get.

Background:
barton 2500 @ 1.725 V @ 2.205 ghz

Before i had my EXOS -AL i had the aerocool dp102 with two thermaltake smartfans on it. It was loud as heck (48 db per smartfan) but it kept it much cool at 33 idle and 39 load with Prime95.

Now, with my exos it is dead silent but does 36 idle and loads at 48!!!!!!I suppose its infinetely quieter then my old cooling but my temps have gone up. I mean, i can hear the heads of my hardrives over this puppie.

The good thing is. It shoots back down to 36 within a minute or so of turning off prime.

Whats everyone else getting for their exos.

Something is wrong here. You are running it at 2.2 gig?

I got the Koolance pre Exos case and I tend to have both a crappy CPU and a crappy mainboard. My mainboard I know is crappy and I have big suspiction that my 2500+ is crap too. Hardly do stock speed at stock voltage.

However I run it at 2300 mhz now and at 2v and my full load temps never goes above 46 really. Prime95 actually doesn´t make my CPU run very hot. The first benchmark the temps to up to like 45 but then with the longer reiterations it goes down to 41-42. But this is with the mainboard probe so take it +- 5 degrees.

So I don´t really understand your temps unless your ambient temperatures are really high. I get like 22-23 degrees in my room so it isn´t very cool either.

But if you just installed it you may still have bubbles in your system that hasn´t gotten out yet. Also you perhaps applied to much thermal paste?

 

[oqvist]

What the heck. Just got my first sunny day and the ambient went up to I don´t now 25 or more perhaps and voila my IDLE CPU temp according to the nVidia system utility is at a wopping 51 C?

I who never got max loads above 46 and in extreme cases 48

 

[The Saint]

you guys made me sink in the underdark again with the decision or not to buy the EXOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!



So..now why in the world you are experiencing this temps???

 

[oqvist]

Originally posted by The Saint
you guys made me sink in the underdark again with the decision or not to buy the EXOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!



So..now why in the world you are experiencing this temps???

In my case it´s the ambient so don´t worry. Ambients temp hurt all water cooling setups equally. However I got a bit worried about my video card. I couldn´t hold on to my heatpipe for longer than 7 seconds before it got to hot for my fingers My fan wheren´t running for some reason.

Don´t worry about us get the Exos

 

[jmcmike]

Well let's not lose perspective here. Most reviews are clear that the cooling ability of an Exos is on par with, not necessarily beter than, some of the best HSF combos out there but if I am not mistaken, your aerocool dp102 is a serious monster of a HSF. Two smartfans? Uh, yea, that should have kept things cool, but as you said, it was noisy as heck.

I wouldn't expect and Exos to offer better cooling than that monster of a HSF and it's not marketed to do so. Now as to why your temps are so much higher than your old setup I can't say. My Exos was an upgrade from an older thermalright HSF that while cool in it's day, didn't hold a candle to some of the monster setups out there today. Consequently, I experienced a drop in temps. As for you, are you using the same thermal compund as you were with your HSF? Did you apply it in the same way? You know, think of the more basic things first and see where it takes you.

Another thing. What waterblock are you using and what is the delta between your block temp and CPU temp at idle and load?

 

[oqvist]

Originally posted by jmcmike
Well let's not lose perspective here. Most reviews are clear that the cooling ability of an Exos is on par with, not necessarily beter than, some of the best HSF combos out there but if I am not mistaken, your aerocool dp102 is a serious monster of a HSF. Two smartfans? Uh, yea, that should have kept things cool, but as you said, it was noisy as heck.

I wouldn't expect and Exos to offer better cooling than that monster of a HSF and it's not marketed to do so. Now as to why your temps are so much higher than your old setup I can't say. My Exos was an upgrade from an older thermalright HSF that while cool in it's day, didn't hold a candle to some of the monster setups out there today. Consequently, I experienced a drop in temps. As for you, are you using the same thermal compund as you were with your HSF? Did you apply it in the same way? You know, think of the more basic things first and see where it takes you.

Another thing. What waterblock are you using and what is the delta between your block temp and CPU temp at idle and load?

Well since watercooling generally is bigger than even high end aircooling you would see some improvement.

As the thing with watercooling is that it gets more efficient the hotter it runs. It isn´t unusual that the idle temps of watercooling setups is actually far worse than high end aircooling but on full load the situation is the absolute opposite.

I have to say that I too had all my fans 7-volted since my Koolance case is in no way quiet at full speed though still quiter than most high end air cooling setups.

But yes you can get good performance just aircooling too. Especially if you got low ambient temps if noise isn´t an issue.

Exos is marketed as a high end watercooling setup though not hardcore watercooling setup and it do perform like a high end watercooling setup

That there is a lot of better and worse watercooling setups out there is only natural.

 

[jmcmike]

Originally posted by oqvist
Exos is marketed as a high end watercooling setup though not hardcore watercooling setup and it do perform like a high end watercooling setup

I don't know, as much as I love mine, I have no illusion about it's market position. I never read a review that pitched it as a high end watercooling solution. It's certainly the best of the external kits available right now but it's not in the same league as your typical 1/2" custom or kit setup.

Still, to my knowledge, nobody makes a 1/2" setup that houses everything outside the case and requires absolutely zero modifications to your case. So it's still a fine choice as far as I am concerned.

 

[oqvist]

Originally posted by jmcmike
I don't know, as much as I love mine, I have no illusion about it's market position. I never read a review that pitched it as a high end watercooling solution. It's certainly the best of the external kits available right now but it's not in the same league as your typical 1/2" custom or kit setup.

Still, to my knowledge, nobody makes a 1/2" setup that houses everything outside the case and requires absolutely zero modifications to your case. So it's still a fine choice as far as I am concerned.

Well I have seen reviews compared to highend DangerDen solutions and to be honest there wasn´t much of a difference.

 

[jmcmike]

Originally posted by oqvist
Well I have seen reviews compared to highend DangerDen solutions and to be honest there wasn´t much of a difference.

From a cursory Googling, here is the only review I found with a Danger Den comparison and the DD had an OC'd temp delta that was more than 6 C lower than the Exos.

http://reviews.pimprig.com/cooling/koolance_exos_alum_and_blocks.php?page=6

All I'm trying to say is that for what it is, the Exos is great. It's just not comparable to a good 1/2" system. Who could expect a 1/4" system to be comparable anyway?

 

[oldbrave]

Well, I've got the "old Black" EXOS and I think it is one of the best computer purchases I've made!
It is easy to install, can be moved from one case to another, completely trouble free and does what I ask of it !
I think I'm leaning on my system more than most with a EXOS but it doesn't seem to mind!
I'm just too damned old to spend the time and make the blood sacrifices to install a DYI system!
Check the Sig for the numbers !

 

[Biggie]

Originally posted by oqvist
Something is wrong here. You are running it at 2.2 gig?

I got the Koolance pre Exos case and I tend to have both a crappy CPU and a crappy mainboard. My mainboard I know is crappy and I have big suspiction that my 2500+ is crap too. Hardly do stock speed at stock voltage.

However I run it at 2300 mhz now and at 2v and my full load temps never goes above 46 really. Prime95 actually doesn´t make my CPU run very hot. The first benchmark the temps to up to like 45 but then with the longer reiterations it goes down to 41-42. But this is with the mainboard probe so take it +- 5 degrees.

So I don´t really understand your temps unless your ambient temperatures are really high. I get like 22-23 degrees in my room so it isn´t very cool either.

But if you just installed it you may still have bubbles in your system that hasn´t gotten out yet. Also you perhaps applied to much thermal paste?

i cant believe your temps at 2V. Ive never heard of anyone staying that low at 2 V. BTW, your room is 9 degrees cooler then mine too, so thats a difference as well.

 

[dotZIP]

9 degrees cooler? you live in a toaster or something? at that temperature, why don't you crank up the AC?